After the last scheduled session, our practice for the day finally ended. Since tomorrow would be the day for rehearsals as the real thing would start the day after, they let the students use the yard for practicing. Of course they wouldn't let the students practice until late at night, so in reality we'd only get one or two hours worth of time. Nevertheless, everyone who was serious about the festival appreciated the extra time.
"What should we do after this, Maki? Honestly, I'm tired, should we just go home? It's friday too…"
"I kinda want to practice a little more. The weather is cooler than usual today, so I can go on a little more."
Since we would be up against the various members of the sports club, it would be impossible for us to win or even get a high rank for the race. Still, I wanted to do my best at least.
We had been practicing hard, so I wanted to give it my all.
"If you say so, fine. I won't go easy on you though."
"I didn't expect you to. Thanks for going along with my selfishness, Umi."
"Don't mention it. Just make some time for me later to make up for the time we'll spend on practicing, okay?"
"…Do you want to go on a date?"
"Maybe~"
So she said, but I knew that she wanted to go on a date with me. Even if my guess was wrong, a date should be enough to make up for this.
But still, we were practicing together, just the two of us. Didn't this count as us spending our time together?
…Whatever. To be fair, our 'spending time together' was something that I wouldn't willingly do in front of other people.
It had been a year since we first met and my feelings for Umi were still going strong.
As I was reconfirming my love for Umi, a handsome boy approached us.
"Thanks for your hard work, Maehara-senpai, Asanagi-senpai."
"Takizawa-kun? Are you done with your work?"
"Yes. Actually, we still have to hold a meeting with the teachers, but the president should be able to take care of that on her own. Also, she told me to check up on you two. Here, help yourself."
He gave us some barley tea and candy. During our practice, I caught a glimpse on how hard he worked for the council. I could see the reason why Nakamura-san put her complete faith in him.
"Well, I'll be checking up on the other senpais as well, so see you later. By the way, we will be enemies during the festival, so I can't cheer for you two, but let's give it our all during the festival, senpai!"
"Yes, let's give it our all."
After he gave us that pep talk, he went over to Amami-san's and Nitta-san's place, a distance away from us.
…Nitta-san had a smug look that could be seen even from here. I didn't know what they were talking about, but she looked ecstatic. Meanwhile Amami-san had a troubled look on her face.
"He's amazing. How could he keep his composure under that kind of gaze? I could never be like him…:
"I know, right? Some people would hate that kind of attention, and then there's him. He just smiled at everyone, not a hint of negativity in his expression. That personality with that height and neat appearance, I can see why people came to like him."
In fact, I have been hearing all kinds of comments about him nowadays. It wasn't only the girls that liked him, even the boys had a favorable impression of him. As far as I could tell, there were only very few people who voiced their jealousy of him behind his back.
'I tried my best to become someone who can walk side by side with senpai.' That was what he said during lunch. He said that with a smile, but looking at his relationship with girls, he must have been having a hard time. The kind of mental strain he had to deal with must have been immeasurable.
"You share the same opinion as me, Umi."
"I mean, it's hard to not have a favorable impression of him since his specs are just that high… Huh, wait, are you jealous, Maki?"
"Uh, no? …I mean, we're different kinds of people, so it isn't even worth comparing myself with him."
"You say that, but I saw you pouting a little when I praised him~"
"Ugh…"
She was right. I felt a little jealous when hearing her praising Takizawa-kun like that.
I knew that there was no deeper meaning in her praise, but I still felt bad about it.
…I see. So this was the feeling that Umi always had to deal with, huh?
"…Sorry."
"Don't be. Just keep in mind, no matter what happens, you're the only one for me, Maki. I only have my eyes on you."
She hugged me tightly.
The gesture made me feel embarrassed, but at the same time, hearing her say that made me feel really happy.
"U-Um… Likewise, you're the only one for me too, Umi."
"Hehe, thank you. I was a little worried that you might be swayed because of the rumors, but I'm glad to hear those words coming from you."
"I really should say this kind of thing more often, then."
"Yes. I know how you feel about me, but when you put your feelings to words like this, it makes me feel more secure, you know?"
Some people might think that we were too clingy to each other, but honestly, this kind of clinginess was perfect for us since we were the kind of people who'd get lonely easily.
I loved Umi and she was the most important person to me. I wanted to prove that through both my words and my actions.
After reaffirming our love to each other, we, the idiotic couple, went back to practice.
Perhaps because our flirting went well, we were more in sync during practice.
Even without shouting the rhythm out loud, we managed to match with each other. We had one of our legs tied to each other, but it felt like we were a single entity.
"…Umi."
"Mhm, this is it. We finally managed to get that sense."
Two days before D-Day, we finally managed to sync with each other perfectly. Now the only thing we needed to do was to keep this up until the actual thing.
After practice, when we left the yard, I noticed another big change.
When we passed a group of girls who were going to the yard as we left,
'Look, look, that senpai over there…'
'Huh? So the rumor is a lie after all? I knew Takizawa-kun said so earlier, but, you know…'
'I see. Well, whatever, we shouldn't get involved with it.'
'Right.'
They were speaking in a low voice, but both Umi and I could hear what they were talking about clearly.
…So this was what Nakamura-san was talking about.
'If the rumor had a great influence among the students, then we only needed to overwrite it with a greater influence.' Takizawa-kun moved around with that in mind as he was mingling with our group.
Whether this method would work or not remains to be seen, but I believe that we'd see the results in the coming days.